This invention relates to a fish-sorting apparatus usable on board a fishing vessel such as a trawler. When a trawler is engaged in mid-water trawling, the catch is likely to be of one kind of fish traveling in a school. However, when trawling for bottom fish, the catch will typically consist of many different species of fish, shellfish as well as rocks and debris. Such a catch necessitates sorting, whereby the marketable species are separated from the unmarketable or illegal ones, and storing each marketable species in a separate bin.
A common procedure is to spill or dump the catch from the fishing nets onto the deck or into bins of the fishing vessel, and thence to sort or shovel the fish into bins, or overboard, depending on species and/or size. This method is time-consuming and involves very hard labor. The fish sorting work involves repetitive bending on the part of the fish sorter and, when the ocean is even slightly choppy, the work typically causes pain in the sorter's back.
A general object of this invention is to provide a novel apparatus which enables a ship's crew to sort a great number and variety of fish in shorter time and with less effort than ever before.
More specifically, an object of this invention is to provide a fish-sorting surface (such surface allowing the sorter to sort in an upright position), with a plurality of ports communicating with that surface, and chutes for directing fish from the ports into storage bins or overboard.
Another object of the invention is to provide ports and chutes which are detachably mounted, with the chutes taking the form of selectively adjustable passage sections, with each section adapted to direct fish from a port into any one of a number of preselected bins located in the hold of the vessel, or unwanted species and debris overboard.
The kind of fishing vessel with respect to which the present invention is contemplated for use is a trawler having a hopper for receiving a catch, with the hopper having four sides (one such side being pivotally attached to the hopper adjacent the lower portion thereof) and a bottom slanted toward a conveyor, such conveyor suitable for transporting the contents of the hopper to the above-mentioned fish-sorting surface. The hopper's bottom is slanted so that fish slide into the bottom of the conveyor and are thus lifted to the sorting surface.
In trawling for bottom fish, a net is hauled out of the water by a winch, the hopper door is closed, and the catch is spilled into the hopper located on the afterdeck of the trawler. The contents of the hopper are then transported on a conveyor from the hopper onto the fish-sorting surface. The fish-sorting surface herein includes a pair of laterally hinged-together inclined panels, at opposite sides of which are located two troughs positioned slightly below to receive fish. During a sorting operation, the outer edges of the panels are spaced above the troughs to expose plural ports that communicate with below-deck storage bins. Also extending from the troughs are overboard chutes for rejected fish and debris. After sorting, the panels are lowered over the exposed ports and seal the ports, making the bins air tight.
These and other objects and advantages will become more fully apparent as the following description is read in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.